


Punishment

by thinkfirst



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Mention of Children deaths, Miscarriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-15
Updated: 2014-08-15
Packaged: 2018-02-13 05:30:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2138787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thinkfirst/pseuds/thinkfirst
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SPOILER FROM ACT 2</p>
<p>it always bugged me that, in the game, Isabea donn't seem to suffer any punishement at all for the almost destruction/conversio to the Qun of Kirkwall.<br/>http://dragonage-kink.livejournal.com/11099.html?thread=44570203#t44570203</p>
<p>I mean, even if you hand her to the Qunari, it's implied that she escape less than a week later.<br/>Plus if you do so, all your party is disgusted by it.</p>
<p>So please give me something about that.</p>
<p>Is she beheaded ? Does she get a scar for every victim ? </p>
<p> </p>
<p>No smut please. I just want Isabella getting what she deserve for know what was going on for four years and doing nothing about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Punishment

**Author's Note:**

> There is the mention of children's deaths and miscarriage. And non-descriptive whipping

Isabela glares into the darkness her thin burlap shift does nothing to protect her from the cold of the stone cell at the bottom of the keep. A shiver runs through her body as she shifts a little on the joke of a mattress she sits on. It does nothing to protect her from the cold hard stone.

She shivers again as she growls and pulls her shacked legs to her chest to the chains rattling as she moves then wraps her arms around her legs the sound of more rattling fills the room. She glares down at her bound hands and growls again, wishing she had one pick but they had found all of her picks, mostly because of her ungrateful "friends". 

She growls again this time in indigent anger. Ungrateful! Her supposed friends, this city, this world was ungrateful! She came back and gave back the damn book and how do they repay her? They arrest her and tell her to wait judgment! She did nothing wrong! It wasn't her fault that the Qunari attacked! It wasn't her fault that all those people died. She was innocent! Such ungrateful sods. She could have stayed on the road with the relic and saved her own skin instead she came back and this is what she gets for doing the right thing.

She shivers again and pulls her arms tighter around herself trying to stay warm. How long will they take to realize they have nothing to punish her for? How long is she going to sit in this freezing dark sinking cell? No one to talk to, nothing to read, nothing to write with, nothing to drink but water and worst of all no sex for a whole week. She hasn't gone a three days without sex since she lost her virginity.

She hears the sound of her cell being unlocked and looks in the directions. Bright light pours into the room as the door is pulled opened and she can't stop the scream of pain as blinding white pain shoot through her eyes and head. She slams her eyes closed against the bright painful light and keeps them closed even when she wants to open them when as she hears two sets of armored feet walk toward her. They each grabbed her by the upper part of her arms hard enough to leave busies. She cries out again in pain as they jerk her to her feet with such force they almost wrench her shoulders out of their socket.

"Get moving your murdering bitch," Jeremy growls at the pirate whore who cost him everything.

Isabela barely opens her eyes and squints up at the guard who spoke to her before closing her eyes against the too bright light again, as in raspy voice she says, "I didn't murder anyone,"

Jeremy glares down hatefully at the prisoner for a few seconds before he punches her in the stomach with his free hand. He smiles as all the air is forced out of her lungs and causes her knees to buckle under her own weight the only thing saving her from slamming face first into the floor is the tight grip he and Alexander have on her arms. He happily listens to her cough and wheeze as she hangs limply between them for a few seconds before he grabs a hand full of her hair pulls her head up making sure to cause as much pain as possible and is rewarded with a whine of pain.

He forces her to look at him but her eyes are still closed. He growls in the back his throat before he roughly shakes her and feeling several hairs rip out of her head as he says, "Open your eyes whore!"

When she still doesn't open her eyes he looks at Alexander and nods his head. Alexander returns the nod before punching her in the stomach again so hard that her hair head is forced down causing a large clump of hair to be ripped out by the roots. Neither of them stop the smile that spreads across their faces as she retches on the ground from the pain. He drops the clump of hair in his hand before taking another hand full of hair. When he is sure he has a good grip and waits for her to stop reaching before jerks her head up by the hair again and says, "Open your eyes whore or you get another one,"

Isabela slowly opens her eyes wincing as pain shoots through her eyes and head again adding to the pain in her stomach and scalp. Tears come to her eyes as the light burns she wants to close her eyes so badly but she doesn't want to get another undeserved punch in the stomach. She forces her eyes up to look in the hate filled eyes of the guard and does her best to glare back at him but she knows it is probably more a squint.

Jeremy nods his head when he sees her fighting to keep her eyes opens before he beings speaking, "You are responsible for what the Qunari did. You are the reason my wife and little girl are dead. You are the reason my friends’ entire family is dead. HIS ENTIRE FAMILY. His mother. His father. His brothers and sisters. His wife and children. You are one diluted bitch if you think you are not a murder,"

He drops her head moving back to her side and they start dragging her again not waiting or wanting a reply from her. As they drag her toward her sentencing, which he thinks is bullshit. She is getting off far too easy, she should have her head put on the chopping block and then her head should be put on a pike on the city walls. 

Isabela tries keeping up with the guards but it is made difficult by the shackles on her ankles. When they get to stairs she finds that she can't raise her foot high enough to reach the steps so when she is dragged up the steps by the two guards her feet smack painfully into the stone steps. Not wanting to hit her feet on the stone steps again she lifts her feet to keep them from being smacked against second step. She can’t stop the her squeal of shock when the two guards holding her up drop her suddenly, brings her hands up to break her fall but they do little good and she lands hard on the stone steps. She hears the tell-tale crunching sound of a bones snapping as pain races through her wrists and fingers as they break against the stone. She tries curling into a ball around her broken hands but is grabbed roughly and yanked up again. The guard who first hit her grabs her hair again and makes her look at him before he says, "We are not carrying you up these stairs. If you can't walk up them then you will let her feet drag on the ground. I don't care if it hurts your feet,"

She wants to spit at him but he drops her head before she can and before she can lift her head to spit at him they start dragging up the stairs again. She lets her feet drag and winches each time the tops of her feet hit the stone steps. With each step the pain gets worse and by the time they are half way up the stairs her feet are on fire and her vision is clouded from pain and tears. When they finally get to the landing at the top of the stairs tears are freely rolling down her face from the pain in her hands, wrists and feet. Relief floods her but as quickly as it comes it flees when the guards turn and she sees another long stair well before her. Looking up at the stairs she can't stop the sob that escapes her.

Isabela looks at the second guard and whispers, "Please no," When she hears both the guards chuckle at her she slumps even more and prays to any God who would listen to let her pass out. She can't stop the cry of pain as her feet hit the first steps. 

For Isabela it feels like it takes hours to get up the stairwell and when they finally reaches the tops of the stairs and start toward the door that will lead into the main area of the Viscount's Keep she sobs in relief and thanks any deity that will listen. After all the worst must be over by now. She has suffered enough for something she didn't do. She is innocent. She did nothing wrong.

The first guard opens the door allowing sunlight to burst into the dim hallway drawing a loud scream of agony from Isabela and if not of the guards holding her she would have collapsed. As she is dragged out into the bright Keep she hears the two guards laugh at her pain and if she was not in so much pain she would hate them. As they drag her across the soft carpeted she slowly opens her eyes again allowing them to adjust to the bright light. When her eyes finally open she cries out in dismay seeing yet more stairs. 

Alexander fights back a laugh as the bitch wines and cries each time the top of her feet hits the stairs heading toward the throne room. They reach the top of the stairs and start down the hallway to the throne room far too soon. Twice the number of guards are post outside the throne room to make sure there isn't a riot when the bitch is brought before the Magistrate. The two guards standing in front of the door and wait for them to be opened. The two guards standing on either side of the Throne Room doors pushes the doors to reveal a room packed full of nobles and Lowtowners as they announce that the prisoner has arrived for sentencing. 

The second the people see her they come to life yelling, screaming and cursing her. As the guards drag her into the room Isabela keeps her head down and her eyes closed as she tries to tune out the cures and slurs from the people. That is until something small and soft hits her in the chest. She opens her eyes when the guards stop the room falls silent and sees a small rag doll laying at her feet. It looks like it was homemade nothing really special about it except that half of it is dyed red. She looks up when she hears a woman screaming at her, "That was my daughter's doll! She was holding it when she died!"

The woman opens her mouth to continue screaming when a man, probably her husband, wraps his arms around her and pulls her back into the crowd. After the woman and man disappear into the ground the guards continue dragging her again toward the throne where a Magistrate waits for them and even though it sends burning pain up her legs Isabela makes sure to step over the doll. As they continue forward toward her punishment she looks back at the doll laying on the ground and for the first time, she cannot tell herself she is innocent. That this isn't her fault. For the first time she feels guilty but this feeling does not last long. As soon as she sees Merrill, Varric, Sebastian, Fenris and Aveline standing at the front of the crowd her anger returns.

They call themselves her friends yet they did nothing when she was arrested for a crime she didn't commit. They left her alone in that dark cell for a week. They betrayed her. She glares at them and her anger triples when she realize the two people she doesn't see is Hawke and Anders. Those two hypocrites. They are always preaching about how it is wrong to imprison and punish someone for a crime they did not commit yet they let her get arrested for a crime she didn't commit. Bastards they aren't even here to speak on her behalf. When she gets out of here she is going to gut them both before getting out of this damned city. The guards let her go and her battered and bruised legs are unable to hold her wait causing her drop her to the ground unceremoniously drawing a cry of pain from her and anger from her "Friends".

"Silence!" Magistrate Roman calls out as he glares at the Champions companions before looking back at the pirate crumpled on the floor. He feels some pity enter his heart at how pathetic she looks covered in dirt, tears, snot and bruises but he quickly squashes it before he continues, "Isabela you have been charged and convicted for multiple counts of murder, arson, destruction of property, endangerment and one count of theft. DO NOT SPEAK! You have been tried in absentia and found guilty on all counts. Normally this would carry a sentence of death but..." 

The magistrate is cut off when the crowd begins yelling and screaming again all their voice merging into on loud angry hum. The magistrate held up his hands and called for silence again as the guards began filing into the room the Kirkwallers began to calm down. When the room is once again silent the magistrate continues, 

"As I was saying normally these crimes carry the death penitently but your companions, including the Guard Captain, begged for mercy. But the one that truly swayed me was the Champion. She has been bound to bed rest since her fight with the Arishok and she sent me a letter from her sick bed begging that I be merciful. Since she is the Champion and the one who defended you against the Qunari almost at the cost of her life and cost of her unborn child I have chosen to be merciful,"

The magistrate holds his hands up again to keep the crowd quite before he continues, "You will be publicly flogged. Ten flogs for every one hundred deaths caused by the Qunari invasion. Which means you will receive fifty lashes. Since that would could very well kill you if you were given them all at once you will receive them over a five week period and during that five weeks you will remain in the keeps dungeons. You will have no visitors,"

Isabale couldn't believe her ears. She had been tried and convicted without ever been given the chance to defend herself and such a harsh punishment for something that wasn't her fault was ridiculous. She tries to fight the guards as the pull her up as she glares up at the magistrate then turns her hate filled glare on her "friends". The only one who has the gall to look her in the eye is Aveline who is stone face as ever, as if to say "You had this coming". She is pulled out of her thoughts when magistrate begins speaking again, "You shall receive the first ten lashes today. Take her,"

The guards turn around and begins dragging her out of the throne room toward her unjust punishment. She looks over her shoulders and yells, "This is bullshit! I did nothing wrong! It was the Qunari not me! I came back!"

The Guards have to speed up almost to a run when the crowd begins yelling and cursing again and tries pushing past the other guards to get at her. Once outside the throne room the first guard punches her in the stomach again as he says, "Disillusion bitch," Then they continue out of the Keep.

Varric watches the Magistrate walk out of the throne room followed by the crowd along with his friends. He walks slowly out of the throne room and pauses at the top of the stairs. He knows that Isabela is getting off easy compared to what could have happened but that doesn't mean he wants to watch her punishment. So instead of leaving the keep he goes to the guard barracks heading for their lounge, once there he sees Donnic who waves him over. He quickly makes his way across the room to the table at the far end of the lounge to wait out Isabela's punishment. 

Aveline follows behind Jeremy and Alexander as they drag her down the long stair toward the courtyard where Isabela’s punishment is going to be carried out. It was decided that the courtyard would be the best place so Hawke could watch it from her window if she so chose to watch. When they finally reaches the courtyard she stands back and watches Jeremy and Alexander secure Isabela to the lashing post. Aveline walks up to her friend and looks into her eyes. Isabela glares at her.

“This is light compared to what everyone one was calling for Isabela,” Aveline says with a sigh.

Isabela snarls at Aveline as she says, “I shouldn’t be punished at all. I did nothing wrong. It is the Qunari’s fault. It is Castillon’s fault. Not mine,”

Aveline suddenly wants to punch Isabela. The woman is either delusional or sees herself above the law. Aveline steps closes until she is standing nose to nose to Isabela before growling, “Four years Isabela. You knew why the Qunari where here for four years and never said a thing. You could have told us we could have helped you find that damn book. And even when you took it off of Sam’s body you could have given it to us then. You could have prevented this so many times. You are just a guilty as the Qunari and Castillon. I was wrong. This is to light a punishment for you if you think you did nothing wrong,”

Aveline turns and walks away to take her place next to the man who will be whipping Isabela. She can’t believe what she said and wants to take it back but there is nothing she can do now. Just like she can’t give people back their lives, or give Hawke and Anders back their baby. So she will just have to live with what her anger made her say and hope that what little friendship she and Isabela has hasn’t been destroyed. She looks at Jeremy and nods he head at Jeremy who pulls a small knife form his belt and cuts open the back of Isabela’s shift. After her back is completely exposed she looks at hooded man who will be carrying out Isabela’s punishment and says, “Begin. Ten lashes no more no less,”

“Yes Guard Captain,”

Roland steps forward whip in hand, he wants to give her all fifty lashes now not caring if it killed the bitch or not, he lost his wife and two of his five children. Hoping it will kill her but the Captain will be counting the lashes and he doesn’t want to get fired and/or thrown in a cell for who knows how long. He is all his remaining children have left, if he loses his job and is imprisoned there will be no one to care for his children. So he will only give the murdering bitch her to lenient punishment and no more.

Isabela bites her lip to keep from screaming when she receives the first last. With the second lash she bites through her lip keep from screaming and almost chokes on her own blood. With the third lash she lets go of lip and lets out a strangled scream. With the forth lash she doesn’t try and stop herself and lets out a loud scream. The fifth lash she screams again and her legs give out from under her causing her to hang limply from the lashing post. The sixth lash draws another scream form her and tears from her eyes. The seventh lash blackness in fill her vision. The eight lash she begins to loses conciseness and just before the comforting blackness takes her she hopes that they give her the last two lashes while she is out. She finds out a second later she is not that lucky when she is pulled back to conciseness when freezing cold salt water is dumped over her head bringing her back to the with cold and pain. 

Isabela sucks in a great lungful of air and lets it out in a sob of despair. They are not going to be merciful. She hangs limply from lashing post shaking uncontrollably from pain and cold. She fells someone grab her hair and pull head back painfully and turns it to look at them. She sees the face of the first guard who hit her. He nods his head before letting go of her head and says, “She’s awake,”

“Continue,” Aveline calls out just wanting this to end. She doesn’t look away or cover her ears when the ninth lash lands and she fights back the sigh of relief when the tenth and finally lash is given. She quickly gives orders to have Isabela taken back to her cell and tells the crowd to go home before heading back to the guard’s barracks. 

Isabela lost consiceness again after the tenth lash and was woken up again when she was dropped on to mattress of her cell. She lay on her stomach not moving hoping the guards would leave her to her misery and pain. But she isn’t that lucky as one of the guards kicks her in the ribs as he says, “You are getting off to light bitch. So many good people lost their lives. Honest people who are worth a thousand of you,” 

He kicks her again before they leave the cell closing the door plunging her into darkness once again. She lets out a breath as she passes out again. She wakes up again to someone spreading something cool and soothing on her burning back. She forces her eyes open to see a woman she has never seen before. A healer. She knows she isn’t going to be abused again and let’s herself slip back into the safe comfortable blackness.

Over the next five weeks Isabela spends almost all of her time in a dark cell save for the one day of each week where she is removed and publicly flogged. When she was finally released she found the first ship out of Kirkwall and left not because they were ungrateful bastards who punished her unjustly but because she realized that she really was guilty and had gotten off easy. She would return to Kirkwall eventually after all she owed Hawke, she had saved her life not once but twice and at such a great cost. When she could look at herself again when she could think of Hawke and not have her gut twist itself into painful knots she would return to Kirkwall.

-Fin


End file.
